Week 2

"Making a Living and a Life" Elder Lynn G. Robbins, October 2010

In fact, Satan had very little to work with – there were very few sins with which he could tempt Adam and Eve.  Think about it – if you were the first man or woman what could he tempt you with?  Stealing? – no -- from whom?  Coveting – no.  Envy?—no.  Gossiping? – impossible – think about it.  Living beyond one’s means? – also impossible.  When you reflect on it, most serious sins involve others and would not become a possibility for Satan until the human race began to multiply and he could use competition and comparisons to appeal to the pride of men.

The acquiring of wealth and material possessions would become Satan’s most fertile ground, tempting mankind with the cunning strategy that this world is our destiny and that anything and everything in this world is available for money.

Appearances can be deceiving.  It may seem that the wicked are prosperous and happy, but we know that “wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10) Given 20 more years, who do you think the customers will naturally gravitate to, George Bailey or Mr. Potter?  Who will be most successful over the long run with the greatest customer loyalty?

President Ezra Taft Benson taught that Satan did not have a lot to tempt the people with in the early days, as the world was more populated then the temptations started. As we interact with others we will be tempted to have what they have or compete with their abilities. The quote that stands out to me the most is that some people seem to be getting more blessings than us and they are not keeping the commandments, they also seem to be having more fun and are happier, this is especially hard to teach our children when they seem to be going without.  We need to have faith and be patient as we follow the Lord He blesses us with the things of eternity and what we need to be truly happy.

“True Blue, Through and Through” Sheri L. Dew, Brigham Young University–Idaho Devotional, March 16, 2004

Here at this institution of higher learning, you’re well aware of the advantages of being smart. Today I want to talk with you about a virtue that is just plain smart and that will have as much impact on your happiness, your peace of mind, and your ability to fulfill your life’s mission as any virtue I can think of.

It is a virtue that will ultimately make you or break you. It will make or break you as a husband or wife, father or mother, brother or sister, colleague or friend or leader. It will make or break your career. And most significantly, it will make or break your efforts to achieve exaltation. For it will define your relationship with God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

Integrity is the foundational virtue upon which all other virtues are dependant. It is the first rung on the character ladder. Where there is integrity, other virtues will follow. Where there is no integrity, other virtues have no chance of developing.

Indeed, anything that lacks integrity is unstable, as any engineer will tell you. A bridge or skyscraper that has structural integrity does what it was built to do. It isn’t necessarily perfect. It could have flaws. But, under stress and repeated use, it does what it was built to do. If, on the other hand, a structure does not have structural integrity, it will at some point fail, as was the case with the world’s first jet airliner, the British-made de Havilland Comet.

You and I live in a world filled with pressure–pressure to accomplish, pressure to get ahead, pressure to conform, pressure to be popular. And so on. None of us are perfect. We all have flaws. How then, under repeated pressure, may we avoid allowing small cracks in our integrity to form so that we can do what we came here to do? How can we stay true blue–to ourselves, to others, and to our Father and His Son?

I really enjoyed this talk, I like how she said that most people think of integrity as just being honest, but it is much more than that, telling the truth is just the beginning of integrity. I love Sister Dew talks about structural integrity, this analogy really makes sense, if you do not have a strong foundation of integrity everything in your life could crumble. We are taught by our leaders to do small things every day and when we look back we will see that we built a strong foundation with structural integrity. This reminds me of a talk by President Uchtdorf about degrees and how the smallest of a degree can turn into miles down the road, we can take this is a negative way to find us way off course or in a positive way by staying on the path to exactness and build a strong bridge of integrity and faith in the Lord and His gospel plan.